A President's Note
April, 2012

Enjoy your Motherhood

Our 29th Annual Contest was just over. Jeremy Chai was crowned as the Grand Champion three years in a row. To repeat for three years this is a great achievement. Congratulations, Jeremy!! For the Chai family, Jeremy, older of two brothers, was not the only one achiever in his family this year, as his younger brother Max took second place in his level. So, - "Congratulatons!" to both of them. I congratulate Jeremy and Max and I also want to recognize their mother. I heard that she practiced with Max for the Contest. The father also has supported their commitment to SuperMath. It's not surprising why the boys have done well.

In SuperMath, students can change their class time and class day on a monthly basis.
Ryan has started this month at my class in San Francisco. One day after the class, I saw three cute triplets, a boy and two girls, waiting in front of the classroom. They looked so cute. They could easily have fit right in to the "Disney's Small World" kids. They turned out to be Ryan's siblings. Somehow, I always thought Ryan was the only child. By the way he concentrated and practiced hard, it appeared that his mother had been able to devote much time to his lessons. I was really taken back to find that he had other siblings. It is remarkable that she can spend her time evenly between her children. If I had to do my life over again, I would approach my interaction with my own children differently. In the area of spending time with my sons, I must admit that I did not do very well. I always tried to do things with all of them together. In retrospect, each child is different and time should be allocated individually.

I felt so proud of Ryan's mother. I am pleased to know that there are so many SuperMath mothers who are enjoying their motherhood. The time spent is so critical now, as you can never redo these times. It is 12:24, April 13, 2012 now. This time never comes back. The time will pass and never return. I always tell SuperMath mothers to enjoy their time of raising kids. I know raising children is sometimes so frustrating and can be challenging, but a child is six years old only once.

When my three sons were teenagers, I took them on a trip to Japan. Because our budget was tight, we had to stay either at my relatives' home or at my friends' house. I told my sons to be prepared to spend time together in one room since a Japanese house was small and that we were not going to get separate rooms. You see - I snore very loudly when I sleep! When we got to Japan and entered the single room, my oldest son Tets, declared to his brothers that he wouldn't sleep next to me. He made his younger brothers decide that whoever lost, had to sleep next to me. My middle son, Joe, won. So it meant that Gene was the one who had to sleep next to me. During mid-night, I was awakened by Gene. He said, "Mom, please don't sleep facing me, will you mind sleeping with the face turned to the other side?" I said "OK, sorry" and turned my head toward the wall. These were the same sons when they were very young, who would fight over each other to sleep next to me whenever my husband was away for the business trip. Times change. This is one of my precious motherhood experiences. So I say all the mothers to enjoy your motherhood to the fullest. Love is to spend time together.